


Jane the Metahuman

by sunkelles



Series: Iris West Dates the World [2]
Category: Jane the Virgin (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Gen, Humor, Iris and Cisco friendship, Minor Cynco, Pregnancy, married jetra, married westallen, minor Joe west/Cecile horton, minor quickwest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-11-28 18:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11423955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: Barry and Iris are happily married, and they want to have a baby. It's just too bad that Barry can't have kids.Jane Gloriana Villanueva, of pregnant virgin fame, seems like the best solution to their problem, especially since she's a metahuman.





	1. I'm a What?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [marry me a little](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6114331) by [celaenos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celaenos/pseuds/celaenos). 



> 1\. the jane the virgin side of this is based off of "marry me a little" by celeanos as much as the show itself. basically everything up through season 2 of jtv happened except jane and petra were fake married for most of it and slowly fell in love with each other and then decided to get real married. you should definitely read that fic if you have any interest in this one. i promise you it will be one of the best decisions of your life  
> 2\. i also haven't seen s3 of jtv. i only know one detail that i'll be incorporating, which is xo's abortion. i know another detail that i won't be incorporating because i refuse to believe that it happened and i'm angry with the show for doing it.  
> 3\. this takes place in an au where season 3 of the flash did not end with barry going into the speedforce. i'm not dealing with that.  
> 4\. i really hope that someone likes this because i'm gonna write a whole lot of it. there's probably two more chapters left in me

Bartholomew Henry West-Allen has always known that he wanted children. He always wanted to be able to raise a child. He always wanted to let them know that they mean everything to him, to love a tiny human that he helped make as much as his parents and Joe loved him. He and Iris know that they want them eventually, but they decide not to worry about it for a few years after getting married.

 

Then they’re twenty nine going on thirty, and they decide that they would like for kids to happen.

The stream of metahumans is slowing down. Wally and Jesse are picking up two thirds of the alerts anyway. Cisco feels comfortable enough with the state of Star Labs and Team Flash that he and Cindy go on month long jaunts to other earths. Caitlin has finally seen the light and has come back to them. She’s back to being the team’s doctor, and has even decided to try being a hero a go. She tried to call herself Snow Queen, but the press won’t stop calling her Elsa. She’s decided that she just has to deal with it.

They feel like it’s time. There is never going to be a better time to bring children into the world than right now while the world has seemed to slow down.

So they try. And they try, and they try. And they keep trying and trying, to no avail.

It’s not like they get tired of trying (the trying is _amazing._ Every attempt with Iris feels like the greatest thing that he’s ever done in his life), but he’s starting to get worried, and she’s starting to get worried. It’s been a year, something should have happened, right? They decide to get a professional’s opinion.

Caitlin’s a professional, right? She knows everything medical related. Barry gets her to run some tests on both of them. She comes in with a look on her face that reminds her of the day one of his dad’s perfectly healthy patients had died on the operating table. Barry knows that can’t be good.

“What is it?” Barry asks. Caitlin bites her lip.

“You won’t like it,” Caitlin says. She sounds downright nervous. Barry doesn’t know how it could be as bad as she’s making it out to be. Whatever the problem is, they’ll be able to adjust for it.

“Whatever it is, we can handle it. We just have to make a few adjustments, right?”

“Yeah,” Iris says, “whatever it is you need us to do we can.”

“I just want us to have a baby,” Barry says. Surely whatever it is they need to do can’t be that extensive or unpleasant.

“Barry, I don’t think that you _can_.”

“What?” Caitlin then goes on to explain the results of her tests, and how the combination of the Speed Force and his other metahuman attributes have seemingly made him infertile.

“Everything’s fine on Iris’s side though,” Caitlin says, forcing a perky smile.

“I just- wow,” Barry says. He doesn’t know how to process this. He always wanted children- _his own_ children, his and Iris's. He never even considered the chance that that wasn’t a possibility.

“Yeah,” Iris says. She sounds as startled as he does. This wasn’t something that they’d considered. They’d been expecting fertility treatment ideas, not for Caitlin to tell him that he’s infertile. He never even considered that.

“I can run some more tests,” Cailtin says, “there might be something that I missed.”

“I think we know enough now,” Barry says. Caitlin doesn’t make mistakes. And Barry’s got the sinking suspicion that this is not an exception. He and Iris have been trying as hard as they can for a year.

They’ve had twelve opportunities, and they didn’t let any of them go to waste. He thinks that she must be right. Barry realizes that there isn’t anything else that they can do here. They might as well leave. Which of course means that he needs to run them back to the apartment.

Iris has a car, of course, but if they’re going to the same place it’s easier for him to run them both over. He ran them over today, and he’ll have to run them back to their apartment now. Lots of times when Barry runs her across town, she’ll run into his arms and he’ll catch her like Jake Peralta and Terry Jeffords on that episode of _Brooklyn Nine Nine_.

“Are you ready to go?” he asks. She nods, and Barry picks her up gently. Then he runs them across town, and a few seconds later they’re standing in their entry way. He moves to set her down, and Iris grabs his shoulder.

“Carry me to the couch,” she says. Barry has never been able to say no to Iris in his life. He’s not exactly gonna start now. He carries her to the couch and sets her down. Then he sits down beside her.

He still feels numb. Iris looks it.

“So,” Barry says. He hopes that Iris will have some clever solution. She always does. She always knows what to say, what to do to fix things. Even before Iris knew what she wanted to do with her life, she was always so confident in herself. Barry’s always found himself feeding off of that. He needs that right now.

“So,” Iris says back. She doesn’t sound any more confident than he does, which is disheartening. Barry has no clue what he should be doing right now.

“What do we do now?” Barry asks.

“I don’t know,” Iris admits, “it just- it still doesn’t seem real. I never actually thought we wouldn’t be able to have our own kids.”

“I know,” Barry says, “I just- I want our baby to look up at me with your smile” Barry knows that’s not _right_. He shouldn’t care about whether or not their baby is actually his and Iris’s genetically. He should be able to set aside that dream of seeing their features come together on a baby that hopefully has more of her traits than his and be able to love the idea of just having a child.

“Is that too selfish?”

“No,” Iris says, smiling sadly as she takes his hand, “I was hoping that our baby would get your eyes.”

“Do you think we should give up now? Just get adjusted to the idea of adopting.” He doesn’t really want to, but things seem hopeless. It’s not really worth it to cling to a fantasy that biology says will never come true.

“No,” Iris says, and she squeezes his hand, “we shouldn’t give up yet. I’m not ready to let this go.”

“Caitlin didn’t think there was any hope.” Barry trusts Caitlin’s medical opinion more than any other doctor he knows. He doesn’t know if there is anyway that they can do this, no matter how much he wants to.

“I research things, Barr,” Iris says, “it’s what I do. Let me look into this. I might find a way. Don’t give up yet.” She smiles at him, and he sees her normal self-confidence ease back onto her face. Iris _does_ think that she can find a solution for this.

Barry believes in Iris more than anything, so he nods. If anyone can do this, then she can. They might have a baby yet.

  
  


Iris Ann West-Allen has not always known that she wanted children. When she was little, she thought kids were cute. The older she got, the less appealing the idea got. Especially after periods, and then after sex ed that specifically talked about the “joys” of pregnancy. Exactly none of those things seemed joyful if you asked her.

She watched classmates of hers suffer through teen pregnancies they didn’t want because their parents wouldn’t let them abort. She listened to the horror stories. She watched screaming children in Walmart. She watched babies barf all over their strollers. She didn’t think that anything would make her want to go through nine months of hell to get a screaming bundle of vomit and poop.

But as she got older and watched her friends from college have them when they’d _planned_ to have them, she started to see the appeal. Especially when she listens to her father talk about how much she loves her and Barry and Wally. There is something appealing about the idea of watching a person that she helped make grow up and learn how to be a person. She wants to love someone as deeply as her dad loves his kids.

This was only magnified by the gleam in Barry’s eyes when he talks about kids, and the idea of them being his, of raising them together. Eventually all of this combined changed her mind. She does want kids. She wants kids with _Barry_. If there is any way that she can make that happen, she will.

She starts researching fringe fertility treatments, all of the weird treatment ideas that no one really thinks will work. There’s a stone in England that people think passing through seven times will help bring about pregnancy. There’s a statue in France that people kiss on the lips, leave a flower at and then rub the crotch of to increase fertility.

Iris is fairly sure that neither of these things will work. She digs through pages and pages and pages of probably useless information about different herbs and spells and ointments. She files away a few tea ideas, but generally decides that these options aren’t for her.

She’s starting to worry that there might not be a fix for her until she stumbles across a subreddit dedicated to one “Jane the Virgin”. Iris is a quality journalist. Of course she doesn’t trust Reddit as a source right off the bat, but she does notice hundreds of comments claiming that touching Jane helped bring a couple a long-awaited baby. Some couples that had tried for years to no avail, some couples that claimed to be infertile before, and a few women that claimed she helped them and their wives conceive. Iris is skeptical, but still interested.

She googles the phrase “Jane the Virgin” and finds an interesting article from the Miami Herald.

 

 

**“Jane the Virgin Lesbian Married”**

 

The woman once hailed by local Catholic authorities as a cure-all for fertility related problems has recently married a woman, according to her father’s twitter account. Rogelio De La Vega has praised his new “lesbian daughter-in-law” and has warned critics of his daughter’s marriage and sexuality that he will not be afraid to take them to court for hate speech and libel.

Mr. De La Vega is not the only one who wished to comment on Ms. Villanueva’s mariage. Sister Margaret, the principle of Our Lady of Sorrows High School, has spoken of Ms. Villanueva’s healing abilities at length in the past. While she has been silent in recent months, she had not retracted her previous statement that Catholics with fertility issues should take counsel with “Jane the Virgin”, who would ease their fertility issues. Upon this development, Sister Margaret has this to say. “We apologize to the devout Catholics that we led astray with this earlier information. We now know that Jane Villanueva is not blessed, and she does not have the power to cure infertility. If anything, she needs healing from someone _else.”_ When asked to elaborate on her views on Ms. Villanueva’s marriage, Sister Margaret declined to comment.

When asked for a comment, Ms. Villanueva declined.

  


 

This is probably nothing. If anything, it sounds like the plot of a soap opera, not a real lead on how to cure her husband’s apparent infertility. But her life is a little bit like a soap opera too, or a really cheesy superhero movie. She remembers how Barry’s face had fallen when Caitlin told him, and decides that she needs to at least check this out.

Instead of letting this lie, she searches Jane Villanueva on Facebook. The account is locked, of course. All she can see is her profile picture. The woman in the picture has a sunny smile, tanned skin and curly hair. She’s absolutely gorgeous. If Iris was still an insecure high school girl who had decided that white girls _weren’t_ inherently prettier than everyone else but hadn’t fully embraced her own appearance, she might have been jealous. Instead, she can just appreciate Jane for being another gorgeous woman and go back to her insane plan to find out whether or not there’s any merit to that theory that she’s magic.

Iris is a lot of things, but a hacker isn’t one of them. If she doesn’t become Jane’s Facebook friend, then she’s never going to get onto her page on her own. She does, however, know hackers. One of them is a best friend of hers, and was Barry’s best man at their wedding. She dials Cisco’s number, and he picks up immediately. _That’s_ the sort of friends they are.

“Yo, what up? Someone dying?” That’s _also_ the kind of friends they are.

“No one’s dying,” Iris assures him.

“Okay, I gotta go then. Cindy and I are on Earth 29 on the beach right now.” .

“Please,” Iris says, “I really need your mad hacker skills.” Cisco sighs.

“Where are you?”

“At the apartment,” Iris says.

“You’re lucky I love you,” he says as he hangs up the phone. Iris smiles. Then a breach opens in front of her and Cisco comes through, clad in nothing but swim trunks with R2-D2 and C-3P0 all over them and his Vibe goggles. He’s not even wearing flip-flops. She's fairly sure that he's getting sand on the carpet right now. 

“Thanks, Cisco,” Iris says. Cisco scoops up her laptop, and spirits it over to the counter. He sits down at one of the bar stools, and then starts typing.

“I’m in,” Cisco says five seconds later.

“You are _amazing,”_ Iris says. She isn’t even exaggerating. Cisco might say that Felicity’s a better hacker than he is, but _she_ isn’t the one that would drag herself away from a hot date on another earth just to help Iris hack into someone’s Facebook. Iris isn’t sure that she would do that even if she could.

“Why do you need to hack someone’s Facebook?” Cisco asks seriously.

“Just a lead I’m following,” Iris says, trying to sound casual. She leans against the counter beside her to emphasize how casual she’s being. Cisco doesn’t look convinced.

“I want deets, girl.”

“Trust me,” Iris says, pulling him into a hug, “If this goes the way I hope it will, then you’ll have all of them and more.”

“Alright,” Cisco says, “but if this _doesn’t_ go the way you want it to, I still want the deets. Is that cool?” Iris doesn’t want to think about what will happen if ( _when_ a negative voice that calls itself realistic says) that happens.

“Promise,” Iris says. She hopes that she doesn’t sound as nervous as she feels.

“Alright, I can live with that.”

“Thanks for your help, Cisco. I really appreciate it.” Cisco’s become more sure of himself since they first met, but she knows that he always likes to know that he’s wanted. Everyone does.

“Happy to help,” Cisco says, sending her a winning smile. Then he slides his shades off his head and over his eyes, and then he opens a breach in her living room.

“Catch you later, Iris,” he says, grinning. Iris knows that she can do one better than that.

“See you on the flip side,” Iris says. Cisco salutes as he walks into the breach, and Iris grins so wide that her face nearly hurts. Iris is so glad that they’ve become good friends over the years. Cisco just makes her life so much  _brighter._

Iris decides to start scrolling through Jane’s posts. She tries not to feel guilty as she passes semi-private conversations with friends and family.

It’s November 2nd, and the third post that comes up is for Halloween. There is picture of Jane, her wife, and their three children dressed up as superheroes. Jane herself is dressed up in one of the best Vibe cosplays that Iris has ever seen. The woman that Iris assumes is her wife is dressed up as Supergirl. Their son is dressed up as The Flash, and then their daughters are dressed up as Black Canary and as Firestorm.

Iris screenshots it, and sends the picture to both Cisco and Barry. No matter how many people Barry and Cisco see dressed up as them, they never stop getting excited about it. She gets a text back immediately.

 

wtf she looks better than me

how does she look better than me

IRIS (crying emoji)

 

Iris sends him a smirking emoji and leaves the conversation at that. Then she dives back into Jane’s Facebook page.

Jane Villanueva is a popular woman. Her page is coated in pictures of her kids, her wife, her parents, her grandmother, her baby daddy, and her numerous friends. It leaves even _Iris_ feeling a little inadequate, until she comes to a post from this June. It’s an appropriate post for Pride month. There’s never a better time to tell off homophobes.

“I’ve survived accidental artificial insemination, a hurricane, the Particle Accelerator explosion, three children, one of those children being kidnapped, building myself a writing career and remaining Catholic while being married to a woman. You think you’re going to scare me with a homophobic comment on my Facebook page?” That’s such a clusterfuck of crazy that Iris almost doesn’t notice the _Particle Accelerator Explosion_ on the list of crazy things that Jane has survived.

Iris has her next lead.

  
  


 

Jane Gloriana Villanueva is twenty eight years old. She is a lot of things: a published author, a mother of three, a beloved wife, a local gay icon. She is no longer a virgin. Unless, of course, your definition of virginity requires a penis going into a vagina, then Jane is still a virgin. These are all technicalities and have no bearing on our current story.

Right now, Jane is home alone. Rafael has the kids tonight, and Petra is still at work. She doesn’t expect any visitors. That doesn’t mean that she isn’t going to get any, of course. That is what will propel our current story forward.  

 

Someone rings the doorbell. Jane sighs, but gets up off the couch. She goes to open up the door, and is greeted by the most gorgeous couple she’s ever seen.

The woman and man standing in front of her look like a physical manifestation of her bisexuality. They might actually be her sexuality shoulder angels.

“Can I help you?” Jane squeaks.

“Hi,” the woman says, sounding both professional and friendly, “I’m Iris West-Allen, and this is my husband, Barry. I’m a reporter at CCPN.”

“CCPN?” Jane asks. That’s definitely not a local paper. Does the CC stand for Central City?

“Central City Picture News,” Iris clarifies.

“What would you want to talk to _me_ about?” Jane’s life might be a soap opera, but no one ever wants to talk to her about it, unless it’s to do with-

“I won’t tell you anything about the Solanos,” Jane says firmly. She’s already caused one disaster by telling a reporter something about her baby daddy’s family. She didn’t _know_ that he was a reporter, but still. She can’t take any chances.

“This isn’t about the Solanos,” Iris assures her, “we wanted to ask you some questions about yourself.” The woman seems nice enough. 

“Alright,” Jane says. That could be about any number of things. Best case scenario, it’s about her recently published novel. She invites them in, and has them sit at the bar.

“Do you want something to drink?” Jane asks.

“Just a glass of water, please,” Iris says.

“Me too,” Barry says. Jane gets three glasses of water, and then sits down at the counter beside Iris.

“So,” Jane says, “what do you want to ask me?”

“I actually wanted to ask you about this “Jane the Virgin” thing,” Iris says. Jane groans.

“I thought I nipped that in the butt when I settled down with a woman,” Jane says, “the Church didn’t really want me as their poster child for anything after that.”

“There’s still a whole online community dedicated to you,” Iris says, “people that believe that you have fertility powers.”

“Uh yeah,” Jane says, “you see, I was artificially inseminated about six years ago, and I’d taken this virginity pledge to my grandma. So I was a pregnant virgin teaching at a Catholic school, and then one of the nuns convinced people that I had _fertility powers_ because people thought I was like the Virgin Mary.” Jane has gotten so tired of telling this story to so many people over the years. 

“What do you think about it?” Iris asks. Then Jane realizes exactly what’s happening here. A gorgeous woman and her husband, asking her questions about the "Jane the Virgin" fiasco?

“You’re trying for a baby,” Jane says blandly. Barry looks a little contrite, but Iris doesn’t back down.

“You’re one of those wackos that want to touch me for fertility reasons!” Jane wasn’t sure what she expected when she invited this couple into her house, but it certainly wasn’t _this._ She hasn’t had to deal with “Jane the Virgin” shit since she finally got them to leave her alone after Mateo was born.

Iris doesn’t even look phased.

“You were in Central City the night that the Particle Accelerator exploded,” Iris says evenly.

“I was,” Jane says. She doesn’t know what that has to do with anything. It takes her a moment to realize that she should be wondering how in the world Iris knows that.

“How do you know that?” Jane demands. Barry sighs.

“We might have stalked your Facebook,” he says.

“Barry,” Iris hisses. Apparently, they weren’t planning to tell Jane this.

“My Facebook is set to “friends only”,” Jane says. How did they even manage to do that? Facebook stalking requires access to someone’s page.

“My best friend’s a hacker,” Barry says.

“Oh my god,” Jane says. These people actually _hacked_ into her Facebook. She feels really uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry,” Iris says, “but we were really desperate.”

“You mentioned the Particle Accelerator explosion,” Jane says, trying not to explode again, “what does that have to do with anything?” The pair share a meaningful look.

“The Particle Accelerator created the metahumans in Central City,” Iris says, “the Flash included.”

“You’re saying the Particle Accelerator gave the Flash his powers? And Vibe?” Jane still doesn’t know what they’re implying, but she’s interested now.

“Yes,” Iris says, “and Kid Flash, and Jesse Quick, and Firestorm, and Snow Queen, and you too.”

“Me?” Jane asks, “what powers would I have? Like, I think I would have noticed if I started shooting fire out of my hands.” It’s been _years_ since the Particle Accelerator explosion, wouldn’t she have noticed if she had superpowers? Neither Iris nor Barry says anything.

“And how do you even _know_ that’s what gave the metas their powers? I’ve never heard anyone say that before.” No one really knows what’s up with Central City. They just write it off as a weird place that people who aren’t locals don’t want to move to (like Starling City, and Gotham) and stop thinking about it. Jane only thinks about the weirdness in Central City when she’s watching the news or reading the paper.

Or checking blogs for new pictures of Vibe, which is not creepy. It’s perfectly healthy to nurse a celebrity crush or two, okay? If Petra gets to decorate their room with Supergirl paraphernalia then she gets to look at some pictures of Vibe.

“We have it on good authority from the Flash,” Iris says. Now that? That makes Jane angry. These people just want her to take their _word_ for this, that she’s a metahuman.

“I just- I don’t believe you. Not without any evidence.” She refuses to just accept this. She doesn’t know what game they’re playing, but she won’t get dragged into it. The two share a look, and then Barry sighs. He looks like he’s made a decision. A moment later, he’s engulfed in lightning. Then he’s gone, and a few moments later he returns with a Sonic drink. His clothes are smoking slightly, like they’ve caught fire.

“You could have changed, you know,” Iris says.

“She got the point,” Barry says, “didn’t really need to hammer it in. Plus I didn’t really like this shirt.”

“I bought you that shirt,” Iris accuses. Barry looks a little contrite, and Jane just- she can’t _believe_ this. She saw it, but it’s just, it’s so crazy.

“You’re the- the”

“The Flash, yeah,” he says, smiling at her and holding up the drink, like it's somehow as exciting as him being the Flash, “I got you a drink, but I just kind of guessed what you’d like. Do you like slushes?” He hands it to her, and she looks at it blankly for a moment. This guy standing in her kitchen is _The Flash._ He just ran across town to her get a soft drink.

Jane has never felt the need to go to the one Sonic Drive-In in Miami, or even stop at one of the many she’s seen on the side of the road, so she wouldn’t know one way or another. Slushes are probably fine. She takes a sip, and there’s a fucking _nerd_ in it. Not a nerd like Barry of course, a hard candy one. Someone thought it was a good idea to put hard candy in a beverage. She sets the drink down on the counter, feeling thoroughly betrayed. Apparently, Barry can tell that she doesn’t like it.

“I can get you something else,” he offers.

“I don’t, um,” Jane says, “I don’t want to make you buy a new one.” She feels bad enough that he bought her the first one.

“You did pay for it, right?” Jane asks. He moved so fast that she can’t really be sure. Barry looks offended.

“Of course I did, I’m a _superhero_.”

“Alright,” Jane says, “but you don’t have to buy me another drink.” She feels bad enough letting her father or the man she shares three children with pay for stuff. Hell, it took Jane forever to be comfortable with Petra using her own money to buy her things . She doesn’t really feel right letting a stranger buy her a soft drink.

“We’re making your life complicated. Let me get you a drink.” Jane really can’t argue with that. They _are_ making her life complicated. Even more complicated than it already was. Jane already thought that her life was a carnival sideshow.

“Alright,” she says, “do they have mango of that?” Out of all of the “vaguely fruity flavors” mango is her favorite.

“Mango peach,” Barry says.

“I can live with that. But no nerds this time.” She does not want hard candy in her drink, thank you very much. Barry nods as he speeds off.

“Does he do this a lot?” Jane asks.

“Which part?” Iris asks.

“Run across town for drinks?” Jane has a million questions, but she doesn’t really know where to start. She’s just been given access to one of the best kept secrets in the world. She doesn’t have any idea how she’s supposed to react. She’s not even that good at keeping secrets. Other than she and Petra’s fake marriage that eventually became real, she hasn’t really _had_ any. At least not big ones like this.

“One time he ran across the Atlantic to get me a drink,” Iris says.

“Really?” Jane asks. She knows that the Flash is the “Fastest Man Alive” (which is debatable with all those speedster villains and Kid Flash and Jesse Quick on the scene) but is he really fast enough to run over water?

“Yeah,” Iris says, with the same tone Jane uses when she talks about she and Petra’s mood rings, “We went to Ireland a few years ago, and we had this amazing apple cider that they don’t sell here. I told him I was craving it, and he came back three minutes later with a whole case of the stuff.”

“That’s so cute,” Jane says. Iris doesn't say anything. Jane doesn't say anything either. They sit in awkward silence until a moment later when Barry shows up with a new drink. Jane takes a sip, and decides that this is  _much_ better than the first one. It's probably not good enough that she'll make a habit of going to the Sonic on the other side of town, but it's pretty good. Jane takes another sip of her slush, ad waits for someone to talk. No one does, and she realizes that they expect her to start the conversation. That's just great. Jane's the one who's the most confused here. They could at least do her the courtesy of explaining things. 

“So, you two are really here because you think I’m a metahuman,” Jane says. She hopes that will get her the explanations that she wants. 

“Well, that’s not really it,” Iris says at the same time that Barry says, “basically.”

“And what, exactly, do you think my powers are?” Jane asks. They started out this conversation by talking about the “Jane the Virgin” incident, but Jane doesn’t really know how that correlates to possible metahuman abilities. If she were able to shoot webs out of her wrists like Spider-Man does, she would notice, right?

“Fertility related,” Iris says. Alright, that explains the “Jane the Virgin” thing, but that doesn't explain  _why_ that would happen.

“Why would I have fertility powers, though?” Jane asks, “tons of people were hit by the Particle Accelerator and didn’t get powers. My friend Lina was with me and she didn’t get powers.” At least no powers that they know of. If Jane actually has powers she might not rule out the possibility.

“You were pregnant during the explosion,” Iris says.

“So you’re saying that somehow that the explosion interacted with my fetus to give me fertility powers?” She and Lina’s trip to Central City was only a few days after that fateful gynecologist appointment with Luisa. Mateo might have technically still been a zygote then as opposed to a fetus.

“It’s not the most ridiculous thing that’s ever happened to us,” Iris says. Honestly, it’s not the most ridiculous thing that’s ever happened to Jane either.

“How did you get your powers?” Jane asks him.

“I was struck by lightning, then I was in a coma for nine months.” If he was in a coma for nine months after the Particle Accelerator exploded, that means he was in a coma for basically the duration of her pregnancy.

“What day did you wake up?”

“May 14th,” Iris tells her. Jane _squeals._ Fucking squeals.

“That was my son’s birthday! You woke up on my son’s birthday!”

“Okay, this is fate. This is totally fate” Barry and Iris both look confused. 

“The Flash is Mateo’s _favorite_ superhero.” Neither of them seem less confused. 

“This was supposed to happen,” Jane says, "we were _supposed_ to meet each other." Petra chooses this exact moment to walk in. She looks completely confused.

“Jane, who are these people?”

“This is Iris and Barry West-Allen,”

“Iris West-Allen?” Petra asks, “you’re that woman that writes articles about the Flash.”

“The one and only,” Iris says. Jane actually laughs (Iris writes articles about her _husband?)_ , and Petra seems even more confused by that. She decides to ignore it.

“What are you doing near my family?” Petra demands.

“What?” Iris asks. She’s clearly confused about why Petra is so defensive.

“She’s not trying to trick me into telling her all our family drama, Petra,” Jane says.

“Then what _is_ she doing?”

“Iris and Barry are…” A reporter who writes about the Flash and the Flash? A married couple very much in love? Destined to be our friends? “trying for a baby.” That’s probably Jane’s weakest option, but she doesn’t know if Barry is cool with her telling Petra he’s the Flash. She doesn’t want to just blow his secret. Petra looks even angrier and more defensive than she did before.

“You’re- you’re Catholic crazies!”

“Catholic crazies?” Iris asks, wrinkling up her nose.

“Those people that think touching Jane will get them pregnant! That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“That’s not what this is,” Iris says, “I’m sorry, Ms.” Iris pauses awkwardly after that, and Jane realizes that she’s groping for a last name she doesn’t have yet.

“Villanueva,” Petra says firmly, and Jane never gets tired of hearing that, “I’m Jane’s wife.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Barry says, trying to force a smile from his spot on the bar stool. Petra just glares at him.

“Get out of my house,” Petra says, “ _both_ of you.”

“Ms. Villanueva,” Iris says, but Petra doesn’t let her finish. She crosses her arms and turns to Jane. It looks like part of her irritation has transferred over to Jane herself now.

“Jane, why did you let these people in?”

“They seemed nice,” Jane admits. She does not admit that she was hoping for an interview about her book. That would just be embarrassing. 

“Jane, these people that think you’ll give them a baby, they’re like your father’s stalkers. Like the one that tried to kidnap him. They could have _hurt_ you Jane.” Petra says this slowly, like she’s trying to get the idea through Jane’s thick, kind, _trusting_ skull.

“But they didn’t,” Jane says firmly. She knows that this isn’t a consolation for her wife, who is running through every hypothetical situation in her mind right now. Petra is the one that had to save her father from his crazy stalker after all. 

“Stay out of this,” Petra says. She doesn’t even look at him, and keeps glaring at Jane, her arms crossed over her chest. Barry flashes away from his spot in the bar stool, and Petra doesn’t even notice. Jane just starts laughing.

“I just can’t believe you would do this, Jane,” Petra says, “and what’s so funny?” Barry flashes back into the room, and this time, he’s wearing his costume. This time Petra notices.

“Jane, why is _The Flash_ standing in our living room?” Petra demands. Barry pulls down his hood.

“Hi,” he says, “I’m the crazy that wants your wife’s help.” Petra doesn’t even some witty retort to this. She’s just standing there with this confused look on her face. That’s a really bad sign.

“You broke my wife,” Jane says. It’s only half a joke.

“This is a lot to take in, Jane,” Petra says. God, Jane is glad to hear her voice. She was actually a little worried.

“There’s a lot more of it too,” Iris says. They all sit down at the bar, and Jane pours Petra and Iris a glass of wine. She drinks her mango peach slush, and Barry drinks whatever one he brought her first. She offered him wine too, but he assured her that he couldn't get drunk so it wasn't worth wasting on him. Then, Jane, Iris, and Barry recount the long story for Petra.

“You think that Jane is a metahuman with fertility powers?” Petra asks. She sounds much calmer about this than Jane expected. She’s much calmer about it than Jane was.

“You don’t sound surprised,” Iris says, “at least, not as much as Jane did.” Petra shrugs.

“That explains the twins, actually” Petra says.

“What do you mean?” Jane asks. She doesn’t know how that relates to her fertility powers. Jane and Petra weren’t close when she conceived the twins.

“Jane, the actual chances of artificial insemination taking are one or two in ten, and that's with trained professionals. I shot myself up with a turkey baster in my suite at the Marbella. The chances of conceiving with that must be even lower, but I got _twins._ If you have powers, that would help explain that.” Barry grimaces like a little boy who’s been handed a tampon.

“You trusted us with your secret identity,” Petra points out, “I can trust you with the gritty details of our lives, can’t I?”

“Yeah, but this- this is just TMI,” he says. Barry is obviously disturbed by this bit of information and would prefer not to know it.

“It’s relevant, actually,” Jane says, “I think fertility powers might actually explain a lot about my life the past few years.

“Right after Petra and I decided to stay married, my mom ended up pregnant,” Jane says, “she spent _one_ night with this guy, and _poof!_ Pregnant! And if you know my mom, she’s been sleeping around for years. Only ever had one slip up when she was a teenager, and then one happens out of nowhere? It just seemed so unlikely.”

“Did she have the baby?” Iris asks gently.

“Oh god no,” Jane says, “she got an abortion.” Her mother wasn’t in a place in her life where she wanted another child, and Jane understands that. It would be really weird to have a sibling that’s younger than all of her kids anyway.

“And then so many of my friends have had accidents,” Jane says. Actually, the more that she thinks about it the more logical the idea seems. She thinks she might actually have fertility powers.

“Alright,” Petra says, “so you have fertility powers. You two want her to what, bless you?”

“My guess is that any kind of skin to skin contact works,” Iris says, shrugging, “it could be a hug, or a handshake. Anything you’re comfortable with really. And it only has to be Barry.”  
  
“Why just Barry?” Jane asks.

“I’m the one with the problems,” Barry admits.

“I thought that the superspeed gave you super healing?” Jane asks, “shouldn’t it give you super fertility too?”

“I don’t know,” Barry says, “but we’ve been trying for a year to conceive, and our friend who’s a doctor thinks that my powers made me infertile.” That must be so hard for him, to have the powers that he uses to help people become a hindrance to him.

“I’ll help you,” Jane promises. Jane’s about to start suggesting how they do it. Then Petra starts talking.

“I have one condition.”

“Petra,” Jane says. Jane doesn’t like attaching condition to her kindness. It makes it feel like it’s stopped being kind and started being selfish.

“I want Mateo to meet the Flash.” Okay, that actually sounds really awesome. Mateo would totally freak if he got to meet the Flash, but it feels so manipulative to make that a condition of Jane helping them. It feels like she’s holding the hypothetical West-Allen baby hostage, like she’s saying “have a meet and greet with my kid or I won’t help you conceive yours”. Even though Jane wants Mateo to meet the Flash more than anything, this feels like that's a bad way to go about it.

“We can’t _make_ Barry do that,” Jane says. If Barry were to offer of his own free will though, that would be a different story.

“We’re losing the cool parent race to Rafael, Jane,” Petra says.

“There isn’t a cool parent race,” Jane scoffs.

“Rafael got _Taylor Swift_ to play at the Marbella so that Anna and Ellie could see it,” Petra says. Stupid rich baby daddy with his stupid rich people connections.

“Okay,” Jane says, “so there might be a cool parent race." 

“Really Jane,” Barry says with a big smile, “it's alright. I’d love to meet your son.”

“Alright,” Jane says, “but if we’re going to do a fertility blessing, we’re gonna do this right. Come stand in front of me.” Jane isn’t sure if this idea is honoring the church that she still attends, or the most sacrilegious thing that she’s ever done. Either way it’s going to be really funny. She decides that it’s probably worth it.

The God that she believes in isn’t going to damn her for marrying a woman, and she doubts that He’s going to damn her for making a little joke either. Jane holds out his hand to touch him on the forehead, and realizes that he’s too tall.

“Can you bend down a little?” He bends down for easier reach.

“In the name of the father,” she says, touching his forehead, “and the son,” touching the middle of his chest “and the holy” left shoulder “spirit” right shoulder “I now declare you fertile.” Barry's laughs as he stands back up, and Jane can't help but laugh too. 

"You want one too?" she asks Iris. The other woman does not step forward to accept her fertility blessing. 

“Our friend who’s a doctor says I’m good,” Iris says. Jane shakes her head.

“Better safe than sorry,” she says, and Iris grins.

“Alright,” she says. Then Jane pulls her into a hug.

“With this hug I declare you fertile,” Jane says. Iris laughs as she breaks it. Her eyes are crinkly and bright with joy.

“Thank you so much,” Barry says.

“You have no idea what this means to us,” Iris adds. Jane thinks about her own children, and all the joy that they’ve brought her.

“I think I do,” she promises. Then she remembers that she hasn’t given this woman her number, and she’s not about to let Iris walk out of here without it. 

“Give me your phone,” Jane says. Iris doesn’t even blink as she passes it over, and Jane puts her number in quickly. She even puts herself in under the name “Jane the Virgin” with a bottle and a baby emoji beside it.

“I put my number in,” Jane says, “call me when you find out you’re pregnant, okay?”

“Yes, of course,” Iris says, “I promise, Jane.”

“I helped you two make that baby, I want to know when it exists,” Jane says, pointing at her. Petra lets out an ugly laugh, and Barry blushes scarlet. Iris stifles her own laughter.

“What?” Jane demands.

“Are you gonna help them _make_ the baby, Jane. Really?” Petra asks with a twinkle of mischief in her eye.

“Oh shut up,” Jane says, swatting at the air by her wife. Now she’s embarrassed. She hadn’t meant it like _that._ Just because she’s bisexual doesn’t mean that she’s dying for a threesome. She’s perfectly happy just being a twosome with her wife, thank you very much.

“I promise I’ll call you,” Iris says, and then she grins widely, “you _did_ help make it.” Jane

“I hate all of you.”

“No you don’t,” Barry says, with a shit-eating grin even bigger than his wife’s, “you helped us make a baby.”

“Out of my house,” Jane says, pointing towards the door.

“Thanks Jane,” Barry says, sincere again.

“From both of us,” Iris adds. Jane thinks that she knows these people well enough now that she doesn’t have to spell it out that she’s not really pissed.

“Out of my house,” she says again, jokingly this time. Barry grins as he pulls down his cowl and then scoops Iris into his arms. Iris seems totally used to this, but she probably is. She’s married to the Flash, and they probably ran all the way here from Central City.

“Bye Jane,” Iris says, “call you when I’m pregnant!” Then in a flash of lightning, they both disappear.

“Wow,” Jane says, “is that ever gonna stop being awesome?” Petra doesn’t answer.

Insead she says, “I can’t believe that you just helped the Flash and his wife conceive a child.”

“Let’s make one of our own,” Jane says, waggling her eyebrows.

“Do you think that we _could_? Do you think the fertility powers go that far?” Jane wouldn’t think so. They’ve had enough married people sex over the years that she thinks if her metahuman abilities could actually get one of them pregnant from it then it would have happened. Then some headline, inevitably, would call her “Jane the Pregnant Lesbian”.

She would really prefer to stop thinking about this.

“You’re killing the mood,” Jane says. At least, assuming that there was a mood to kill with Jane’s opening statement. Petra doesn’t look deterred.

“It’s a fair question.” It might be, but Jane doesn’t want to think about it now, or anytime in the near future, really. She just wants to actually make use of the night alone with her wife.

Jane kisses her, and the crazy world around her seems to melt away. It’s just Jane and her wife, and everything is alright.


	2. We're Pregnant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> or more accurately, Iris is pregnant, but Barry and Jane helped too. 
> 
> Featuring: a pregnancy test, a concerned Barry, a lot of pregnancy announcements, all of Petra's numerous names and all three of Jane and Petra's kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. joe and cecile are married!!! i really like them and decided to just go ahead and go with it  
> 2\. julian isn't a member of team flash anymore, sorry if you like him fam. i just have a lot of characters that i'm dealing with and decided that he was the one that needed to go.  
> 3\. warning for one use of the b word. i hate that word and find it jarring so i like to warn when it slips into my writing

Bartholomew Henry West-Allen has always had faith in the impossible. When he was a little boy, his mother was murdered by a man in yellow, who turned out to be a speedster (and his mentor, and from the future, but neither of these things are entirely relevant). His father went to jail for her murder, and everyone except Iris thought Barry was crazy for telling the truth. Barry always believed that his father was innocent, and always believed that he could get him out of jail. Eventually, they did get him out and Barry was proven right.

Barry wishes that his unshakable faith wasn’t failing him now. He just doesn’t know if this will actually work to get him and Iris a baby. He wants to believe that it’s possible, he really does. He knows that Iris thinks that it will work. She found some strong evidence in support of her theory, and Jane was so willing to help. If enthusiasm could cure infertility, then every sexually active couple with compatible reproductive parts near Jane would be breeding like the Duggars, even people like the Duggars who should not be breeding like the Duggars.

That’s… that’s a thought that Barry would prefer to never have again, actually. He kind of regrets thinking it the first time.

Now back to the topic at hand. Barry wants to believe this will work, but he still remembers Caitlin telling him “I don’t think that you can”. He remembers feeling like the floor was ripped out from under him. He doesn’t want to be taken off guard like that again, if it really doesn’t work. Instead he tries not to let his hopes soar too high, and to brace himself for the possibility that this won’t actually work.

 

Now he’s lying on their bed, speed reading through _Good Omens_ for the tenth or eleventh time since Cisco gave it to him the first Christmas they were friends.

Barry doesn’t always speed read. He tries not to when he reads through books the first time through. He might be able to read through material at incredible rates, but if he doesn’t read through it at a normal human speed he doesn’t retain the information.

He loves to speed read through books that he’s already read, though. He gets to experience the whole novel without making a huge time commitment, and as long as he already remembers what happened from his first, normal person read through, then he won’t forget what happened thirty minutes after he sets down the book. That’s why he’s speed reading through _Good Omens_ yet again, waiting for Iris to get home.

Barry hears the bedroom door open, and looks up from his book. Iris is standing in front of the bed, and she looks nervous but excited.

“What is it?” Barry asks, setting his book down on the nightstand. He wonders if it’s something with this newest story. She’s been investigating a police corruption case for a neighboring precinct. He knows that those are always a mixed blessing for her, wanting to do her job and help expose what’s wrong with the world while having a harsh and immediate reminder of all the things that are wrong. Although, growing up as a Black cop’s daughter, Iris never had any illusions of law enforcement being less corrupt than it is.

“I’m late,” Iris says. Her voice rises a little, like she’s nervous to say that. Which is weird, both because it’s not true and the fact that Barry’s late far more often than she is, even with the super speed. Did she think he was going to be mad?

“No? You got here right on time.” He’d honestly expected her to come home later after she told him she was staying late working on a story. She laughs like this is a really silly response.

“No babe, it’s been two months since my last period,” she says, her eyes sparkling. Then Barry realizes exactly what she meant. Barry might be a speedster, but sometimes he can be so slow.

“The first time I was late, I thought that I might just be late, you know? But then, I didn’t get it and I didn’t get it and, well-” Then she grins even wider. He feels excitement jolt through him. He runs to the store, grabs a pregnancy test and leaves a twenty dollar bill on the counter.

A few moments later, he’s standing in front of Iris, clutching a single take-home pregnancy test in his hand.

“You know, that was fast, even for you,” Iris says, taking the pregnancy test from him.

“I’m just really excited,” he says. He’s been trying not to get his hopes too high for this, but it might be happening. Iris might actually be pregnant. They might actually be having a baby.

“I’ll go find out,” Iris says, gesturing to the bathroom. She’s halfway through the door before she turns around and sees him following.

“What are you doing?” Iris demands, pointing the pregnancy test at him accusingly like a conductor with her baton.

“Helping you with the pregnancy test?”

“Barr, you are not going into that bathroom with me.”

“Iris, we have sex every other night,” Barry says, “this isn’t that big of a deal.” This shouldn’t be awkward.

“Uh yeah, it is. Sometimes a woman just wants to administer her own pregnancy test-” Barry opens his mouth to talk “without help from her speedster husband.” Iris closes the bathroom door.

Barry sighs, but he goes to sit on the bed. He knows that he’s lost this one, so he just sits down on the bed. He thinks about picking up his book, but he knows that he can’t focus on it. Nothing will be able to hold his attention right now when he’s just waiting in limbo in sickening anticipation.

Iris is not a speedster, and that has never been more apparent to Barry than in this moment. It feels like the world has slowed down, which is strange because Barry has gotten better at regulating his perception over the years. He can switch between perceiving the world in slow-mo and a normal human pace pretty easily and consistently now, except when he wants the world to go as fast as it can.

Now he feels like a kid watching the clock at school, wondering if time has stopped just to prevent him from getting out of class. He just wants to know already. He lies down and watches the ceiling stay the ceiling. Watches the analogue clock on the wall tick. The second hand seems to get stuck between ticks because his perception has sped up so much.

It feel like an eternity, though Barry knows that it’s only been a few minutes at most. Then he finally hears the door open. He jolts up to a sitting position, hearing the lighting crackle behind him. Then he meets Iris’s eyes, and that look on her face- that look can only mean one thing.

“It’s positive!” Her smile looks like sunshine, and she’s never been more beautiful to him than in that moment. She wraps her arms around him, and holds him tightly. He hugs right back, holding her like a lifeline. She’s pregnant. It worked. It worked. It really worked.

“We’re having a baby,” she murmurs into his shoulder.

“We’re having a baby,” he says, and he kisses her forehead.

This is real- it’s really happening. They’re having a baby together, and Barry West-Allen’s never been more excited in his life.

 

 

 

Iris and Barry discuss waiting until she’s done with the first trimester to tell anyone else. She doesn’t want to psych everyone up just to have the pregnancy end in a miscarriage. But the longer they talk about it, the more she realizes that this baby is already a miracle.

If something terrible were to happen, they wouldn’t be able to hide it from anyone anyways. They would just have to tell everyone about it after the fact and it would end in sadness anyway. No, they decide that it’s worth telling everyone now. The odds were stacked so high against them going into this that Iris feels like they can take this chance. 

“We’re telling dad first,” Iris says.

“Of course. Iris. There’s no one I wanted to tell before him,” Barry says. And she would believe him, if he didn’t literally tell Cisco everything. All the time. She’s kind of surprised that he didn’t tell Cisco about his proposal plans before he did it.

But then again, Barry proposed the first time at the drop of a hat to change the timeline and then he tried again under more romantic circumstances. If it were a normal proposal she’s fairly sure that he would have run all the details by Cisco to see what he thought about the plan.

“Cisco.”

“Okay,” Barry says, “maybe Cisco. But I would have told Joe second.” Sometimes Barry and Cisco are J.D. and Turk from Scrubs. And by sometimes, she means all the time.

“Dad first, Cisco second,” she says. With all of Team Flash and Linda, Iris realizes that they have a lot of people to tell about this pregnancy. This baby is going to be surrounded by love, and Iris can’t be more excited about that. Growing up, it had just been Iris and her dad before Barry came to stay with them. They didn’t even have any extended family because her dad was an only child and both his parents had already passed.

Iris is so excited that her baby won’t grow up like that. _Her_ baby is going to have both parents, a whole set of grandparents, a biological uncle and more surrogate uncles and aunts than she could have ever imagined as a kid.

“How do you want to tell him?” Barry asks.

“Well,” Iris says, “I was thinking…”

 

They get her dad and Cecile to agree to have them over for lunch this Friday. There’s the condition that Iris and Barry bring the food, but that’s a minor one. Getting a detective that hasn’t stopped running around in all his years on the force and the district attorney to sit down for lunch on a Friday is a miracle in and of itself.

Iris and Barry bring Chinese takeout and her dad gets out the good china as a joke. It’s like a fast food feast. Her dad and his wife both look skeptical, but her dad voices his concern first.

“Why did we all have to eat at the house, exactly?” her dad asks, “Is someone dying? Someone trying to kill you again?” He phrases it like a joke, but Iris can hear the real concern in his voice. She can see Cecile gripping his hand under the table.

“No, dad, it’s nothing like that,” Iris says, sending him a smile “We’re having a baby.” All worry melts off of his face, and he grins from ear to ear.

“I’m gonna be a Paw-Paw,” he says.

“Yeah dad,” Iris says, and her face almost hurts from the grin, “you are.” Cecile grins just as widely.

“You two must be so excited.”

“We are,” Barry says, “we’ve been trying for so long.” Her dad groans.

“Dad. We all know where babies come from. If you wanted grandkids from us, it was going to come up eventually.” She knows that the idea of her and Barry having sex is always going to be a little weird for her dad, but it’s something he just has to accept. They wouldn’t be having this baby otherwise. He can’t have his cake and eat it too.

“Well,” says Cecile, who adopted her daughter and has been happy about it ever since, “there are other avenues.”

“Oh god,” Barry says. They’ve opened up a real can of worms.

“I’m not asking you two to not, _you know_. I’m thrilled that you’re having kids. I just don’t want to hear about your sex life, from either of you. _Ever_.” Cecile starts laughing. And then Barry’s laughing, and Iris is laughing, and even her dad joins in. It _is_ pretty funny that her dad has never really adjusted to the idea of any of his kids having sex. Iris is pretty sure both he and Harry are still convinced Wally and Jesse are virgins. 

“But I do mean it. I don’t want to hear about it.”

“Cross my heart,” Barry says.

“Hope to die,” Iris adds.

“Are you guys telling everyone yet?” Cecile asks. It sounds like a serious question, but Iris thinks she might have just asked to get the topic off of Iris and Barry’s sex lives.

“I don’t know,” Barry says, turning to her, “are you ready to tell everyone?”

“I don’t really think we can keep it secret at this point,” Iris says. Now that they’ve told her dad, everything seems real.

“Alright,” Barry says, and wow this is real now. They’re telling everyone. They’re having a baby.

Well, she’s the only one physically having a baby. Every time she thinks about it, the idea gets a little more real. She’s going to have a baby. Their baby. A beautiful West-Allen baby.

“Do you want to tell everyone else tonight?” her dad suggests.

“Um,” Barry says. Iris grimaces.

“Do you really think you’ll be able to keep it from everyone else much longer?” No, she doesn’t. Barry is already planning to tell Cisco, and Cisco can't keep a secret that isn't about his superpowers to save his life. Everyone else will know by the end of the day and Wally will be pissed that he didn't hear it from Iris first.

“Alright,” Barry says.

“Only if you cook.” Iris says, sending her dad a pointed look.

“I’ll make Grandma Ester’s chicken.”

“Dad, you _know_ I hate the chicken.” He grins.

“The noodles then. How many people should I expect?”

“Cisco,” Barry says automatically. Iris rolls her eyes. Cisco is the person Barry’s closest to that isn't named West. Of course he was going on the list. He was already planning on telling him.

“Wally, of course,” Iris says.

“And Jesse,” Barry adds, because Wally and Jesse have been a package deal for years, “Harry too.”

“Caitlin,” Iris says.

“Is Cindy on this Earth now?” Barry asks.

“If she is, Cisco knows he can bring her,” Iris says. She was his plus one to their wedding, and then every party they’ve thrown afterwards that she’s been on Earth 1 for. Cindy has a perpetual invitation now.

“Do you want to invite Linda?” Barry asks.

“Yes,” Iris says, “thanks for reminding me. She’d kill me if she found out we had an announcement party and didn’t invite her.”

“Anyone else?” Barry asks.

“Julian?” Iris suggests cautiously.

“No,” Barry says. Iris didn't really expect Barry to say yes, but she thought she should ask anyway. Julian had been a part of Team Flash before Caitlin came back and told him she didn't think they had a future together. Julian decided that he didn't want to come back after that, and Iris can't really blame the guy.

Julian and Barry were reluctant friends and Julian and Cisco weren't friends. The rest of Team Flash barely knew him, and after the lure of a relationship with Caitlin happening had worn off so had the lure of Team Flash. He decided that he could find ways to help the world that didn't involve working with his ex and people who tolerated him.

“That’s ten of us for sure,” Joe says, “I’ll just make enough for Cindy in case she shows up too.”  
They contact everyone within ten minutes, and have ten RSVPs as soon as they’re done.

They’re having a baby, and soon everyone’s going to know. This house is going to be filled with excitement and love.

 

Wally and Jesse arrive first, to no one’s surprise. The other two speedsters have made it their life’s work to prove that Barry could be on time, he just chooses not to. One of their favorite collective hobbies is making Barry look bad, which never ceases to annoy Barry and amuse everyone else. Cisco arrives next.

“Cindy’s doing her actual job today,” Cisco says, and he sounds a little irritated about it. He and Cindy have always made it work while keeping up their lives on two different earths, but Cisco has never really been pleased about it.

Caitlin shows up next, only a few minutes after they agreed to meet. Harry is not there fifteen minutes after they decided to meet. Jesse suggests multiple times that they start without him to piss him off. Everyone else is a human who does not fall under Harry's “beloved daughter who can do no wrong” blanket and decides that they would rather not do that.

Once Harry arrives (a full thirty minutes after they were scheduled to meet, mind you) they finally start eating. The conversation is subdued. Everyone can tell that there’s an announcement coming and is just waiting in anticipation.

“What is this about?” Harry asks.

“What?” Barry asks. Of course Harry would be the one to flat out ask what’s going on. Iris and Barry had planned to wait until they were done with dinner to make the announcement, but she supposes there’s no waiting anymore. They’ll have to make it now that Harry’s brought it up.

“This dinner. You asked us all to come over on some random Friday night. It’s not a holiday, and we haven’t just defeated a big villain. That means there’s something you want to announce. Just spit it out already.”

“Dad,” Jesse chides.

“Well, he has a point,” Linda says, picking up her glass of water, “ _I’m_ here. I never get an invite to these things.” Then she takes a long sip.

“Do you want to tell?” Iris asks, sending Barry a questioning look.

“No,” Barry says, “you should tell.” Iris nods and smiles at him.

“We’re having a baby,” Iris says.

“Dude!” Cisco says, and he nearly falls over himself trying to hug Barry in the chair beside him, “I’m so happy for you.” Barry moves them into a more comfortable position in an instant. Damn speedsters.

A second later, Wally has his arms wrapped around Iris in a big hug too. It’s over in a flash, and then Wally’s sitting right back across the table from her beside Jesse.

“Congrats sis!” Damn speedsters. Linda’s laughing, and Wally and Jesse have joined in. Harry just looks smug, like he somehow knew this was the announcement. Caitlin looks blindsided.

“How?” Caitlin squeaks.

“Well Caitlin,” Wally says, “when a man and a woman love each other very much.” Caitlin and Jesse both send him well deserved glares.

“I know how babies are made, Wally. I’m a doctor. I just meant well- it shouldn't have worked that way. This time."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asks.

"Well, Barry's um." Caitlin has kind of clammed up. She must have realized that this conversation wasn't really one they should be having in front of all the other people at the party. 

"Iris and I asked Caitlin to run some tests after we'd been trying for a baby a year," Barry says, and he somehow manages not to make it sound awkward, "Her results said I was infertile." A look of confusion passes across every face in the room.

“We had a little help,” Iris says.

“Are you saying that you used someone else’s?” Wally asks. He doesn’t say sperm, but he doesn’t have to.

“Wally!” Iris shouts in anger. Jesse slaps his arm.

“What! It’s a legit question,” Wally mutters. Barry sends Iris a “do you want to tell it?” look.

“We found a metahuman with fertility powers,” Iris says.

“Fertility powers?” Caitlin asks.

“You have ice powers, and we have three speedsters and a breacher right here in the room,” Iris says, “it’s not the most unbelievable thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“So you got a metahuman with fertility powers to help you conceive?” Caitlin asks. Linda starts laughing.

“Iris, your life is so weird.”

“Do you ever start to get used to this?” Cecile asks. 

“Hasn’t happened yet," her dad says. Iris’s eyes widen. She just realized what she forgot to do.

“I haven’t called Jane yet." 

“Jane?” Linda asks, “are you seeing a different best friend behind my back?”

“She’s the metahuman that helped us,” Iris says, “and I promised her that we’d tell her when we found out.” She whips out her phone. She promised. She has to let Jane know right away before she forgets about it again. 

“We can call her as soon as we get home,” Barry says, “you don’t have to call her right now at dinner. Let’s just enjoy the party, right?”

“Alright,” Iris says reluctantly. She does want to enjoy everyone’s company. It’s just that she promised Jane she’d call her. She doesn’t want her to worry or think that Iris has forgotten her.

“We have something important to talk about,” Cisco says. If Iris knows Cisco at all, then this is going to be joke.

“What is it?” Barry asks gently. He seems concerned that Cisco has a serious issue to address, which is sort of adorable. Barry’s always worried about the people he cares about. Iris is ninety percent sure that this is ending with a punchline.

“Do you have any idea how attractive your kids are gonna be?” Cisco demands. Barry laughs, and Iris snorts, and soon everyone’s laughing. They’re just a big found family smiling and laughing together. All of their worries are forgotten.

 

 

 

Petra Villanueva nee Solano nee Andel nee Natalia Kovář loves her wife. She loves a lot of people who aren't her wife as well, but not in the same way or with the same sort of intensity. Her wife is the woman who married her, a woman she barely liked at the time, to save her from her abusive ex. Jane has stuck with her no matter how difficult things have gotten, no matter how difficult Petra has gotten.

To say that Petra is protective of her would be putting it lightly. She doesn't like people making her wife worry, even if these people happen to be The Flash and his wife.

“Do you think that she’s okay?” Jane asks.

“Who?” Petra asks, knowing full well that answer is “Iris West-Allen”.

“Iris,” Jane says, “she still hasn’t called. She hasn’t even texted. Do you think that she lost my number?”

“Probably not, Jane.”

“Do you think that something went wrong with the fertility thing? Or what if it doesn’t work?: Jane asks aloud, sounding terrified of the prospect.

“Just call her yourself, Jane,” Petra says, “you’re worrying yourself to death about this.”

“I don’t have her number,” Jane says.

“But I do,” Petra says. She takes out her phone, and gets into Iris West-Allen's contact information. Then she shows it to Jane. 

“How did you get that?” Jane asks, “she didn’t give it to either of us.”

“Iris is a CCPD employee,” Petra says, “all of their numbers are up on the website. I found it and put it in my phone the day after we met her.” Petra did a full scale investigation of Iris West-Allen’s character after meeting her and her husband. Petra wanted to know exactly who Jane was getting involved with, and wanted all of the information on her that she could get.

"I still don't want to intrude," says Jane, who has done nothing but worry for two months at the lack of correspondence.

"If you don't call her, then I will."

"And say what?"

"Call my wife. She's worrying, you bitch." Jane knows her well enough that she takes that for the joke it is and laughs, but she does sense the actual hostility behind it as well.

"Okay, okay," Jane says, " _I'll_ call her. I don't trust you on the phone with her."

"What?"

"I trust you with my life, Petra," Jane says, "just maybe not my budding social one."

"Budding social life? Your social life has always been a garden." Jane has helped make Petra's social circle into a beautiful garden as well.

"Neither of us has made a new friend since we got married."

"I made all my friends after we got married," Petra points out, "and you have those girls from your book club, and a few of Mateo's classmates mothers."

"Those are convenience friends, not _friends_ friends. They're not like Lina, or Micheal. Those two are our only real friends who aren't relatives."

Petra would point out that _her_ best friend Luisa is technically only related to the kids and not to either she or Jane, but she knows that's a hopeless case. Jane considers the kids' aunt family as much as she doesn't consider either of the twins' grandmothers family. One of them was a drug lord and the other framed Petra for murder. Sometimes Petra wishes they had something resembling normal lives.

But if she had anything near a normal life, she wouldn't have any of her kids and wouldn't be married to Jane, so she supposes that whatever insane world she's living in must be worth it. A normal life wouldn't be worth giving up her family for.

"I like our friends," Petra says, because that's all she really knows. She never had friends, real friends, before she and Jane got married and went from enemies to friends to lovers. She doesn't feel like they're lacking. Their family is so big and full of love.

"Is that too much to ask for, some more friends?" Jane asks. If Jane wants it, then probably not. Jane has spent all of Mateo's life making sure that he doesn't become a spoiled brat because of his father's money. If there is another deadly sin that's the opposite of gluttony, it's Jane's fatal flaw.

"Being friends with the Flash would have it's benefits," Petra says.

"Oh hush," Jane says, "I just want to be friends with Iris and Barry to be friends with them. It's not some strategic move." Sometimes Petra forgets that Jane has never seen people in terms of what they can do for her. It makes her feel a little guilty, until she remembers that her more jaded world-view has sometimes saved her wife from getting snubbed by the world.

"Call her," Petra says, "you want to be her friend, and you're worried about her. It's completely altruistic." Petra takes out her phone and scrolls to Iris West-Allen’s number. She hands it to Jane. Her wife reluctantly takes it.

"I'm calling her because I like her and I'm worried about her," Jane says, "no other reasons." Petra nods, and doesn’t contradict her. The kids are all back in Mateo's, playing heroes and villains. Petra knows exactly where she wants this to go. Jane dials the number and holds Petra’s phone up to her ear.

"Iris!" Jane squeaks. Jane takes the phone off of her ear for a second and points excitedly to it.

“She answered!”

“I can see that,” Petra says, rolling her eyes fondly.

“I’m so excited to hear your voice, Iris. Wait- wait- really!” Jane’s face lights up into a wide smile.

“They’re having a baby, Petra. It’s happening! We made a baby!” Petra stifles a giggle at that. Jane still said it that way, even after all the teasing from Petra and both the West-Allens. Coupled with her excitement it's really endearing. 

“Can I talk to Iris, please,” Petra asks. Jane sends her a confused look but says, “Uh sure. Petra wants to talk to you, is that alright?” Then Jane waits a second before she hands the phone to Petra.

“Hi Petra,” Iris says.

“Hello Iris,” Petra says, “I’d like to speak to your husband please. Is he there?”

“Uh, yeah,” Iris says, “alright.” Jane looks confused, but she seemingly hasn’t caught onto Petra’s plan yet.

“Barry, Petra wants to talk to you,” Petra hears faintly. Then she hears the sounds of a phone exchanging hands.

“Hello?” Barry asks.

“I heard you two are having a baby,” Petra says.

“We are,” Barry says. The only other time she’s heard a man sound that excited about having a baby, it was she and Rafael’s baby on the way. She tries not to let the memory sting too much.

“Congratulations,” Petra says, “now it’s time to uphold your end of the bargain, Flash.”

“Petra,” Jane hisses, “what are you doing?”

“What?” Barry asks, laughing awkwardly.

“You promised that you’d meet our son when you two conceived. You two conceived, and Jane and I have the kids tonight. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity.”

“You want me to run to Miami right now?” Barry asks. He’s the Flash, it’s not like it would be a hassle.

“Yes,” Petra says, “are you busy?”

“Kind of,” Barry says, “I’m at a family dinner right now.”

“Are you saying you’re not a man of your word, Mr. West-Allen?” Petra suspects he may back out if he doesn’t do it right now. She’s not going to give him room to do that.

“Of course not,” Barry says, sounding offended by the implication. Jane rips the phone out of her hands.

“You don’t have to come, Barry. We’re just pumped that you two are having a baby. Barry? Barry?”

“He’s not there anymore,” Jane accuses, “you scared him off.” Then Petra hears the doorbell ring.

“I don’t think I scared him off, Jane.” Jane starts toward the door, and then opens it. Barry West-Allen is standing on their front door in full Flash garb.

“I’m a man of my word Mrs. Villanueva… And Mrs. Villanueva. What’s the plural of Mrs?”

“We normally go by the Villanuevas,” Petra says, “it’s easier.” Jane wraps her arms around Barry in a hug.

“Thank you so much for being so cool with this.” She releases him from her hug.

“Well,” Barry says with a little shrug, “I did promise, so I wasn’t backing out.” He looks around the room.

“Where are the kids?”

“Kids!” Jane shouts, “There’s someone we want you to meet!” Petra hears the pitter patter of three little pairs of feet running towards them. Mateo comes into the living room first and catches sight of the Flash standing in front of their door.

“Wow,” Mateo says, dropping his stuffed bear. Anna and Ellie are right behind him. Ellie’s eyes widen.

“Mom! Mom! It’s the Flash!” Anna looks skeptical.

“That’s not the real Flash.”

“It’s not?” Jane asks.

“No. He’s a fake Flash, like abuelo.” Jane starts giggling.

“Anna sweetie, it’s not like when abuelo dressed up as Santa. This is the real Flash.” Anna gives her another skeptical look. Barry runs across the room in a flash of lighting and stands in front of Anna.

“Hi,” Barry says, waving. Anna’s eyes widen.

“You are real!” Barry smiles as he nods. Mateo and Ellie both rush forward.

“You must be Mateo,” Barry tells her son. Mateo looks starstruck.

“You know my name?”

“Yeah, I do,” Barry says.

“What about mine?” Ellie asks.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know yours,” Ellie looks disappointed, “but I’d like to.” Then she perks right back up.

“I’m Ellie!”

“I’m Anna,” her other daughter adds.

“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Barry says with a grin.

“Can you really run on water?” Mateo asks, looking up at Barry like he’s the coolest person on the planet.

“I can.”

“Wow,” Mateo says again. It seems like the only thing he can say at the moment.

“Can we meet Firestorm?” Anna asks.

“And Black Canary!” Ellie adds. The Flash grins even wider at that. He looks like he’s stifling a laugh.

“You’re grinning,” Petra says, “why are you grinning?”

“I know both of them,” he says softly, probably trying to make it soft enough that only Petra hears.

“Wow,” Petra whispers back, “do _all_ superheroes know each other?” Barry makes a face and waves his hand in a so-so gesture.

“You’re gonna make him leave, Ellie,” Mateo accuses.

“Am not.”

“Are too,” Mateo says. Barry laughs.

“I promise, I’m not leaving yet.” The kids beam at that.

“Can I get your autograph?” Mateo asks.

“Of course,” Barry says. Mateo’s eyes light up, and he runs past the kitchen and into his room. If Petra knows him at all, he’s going to get his Flash poster for him to sign. A few seconds later he comes out with precisely that. It’s an artistic rendition of the Flash. After seeing Barry up close Petra knows that it doesn’t look much like him at all.

The poster is taller than Mateo is, and he holds it over his head as he brings it into the living room. It drags on the carpet as he makes his way over. Then he holds it out in front of him, covering his face. 

"Wait, I don't have a pen," Barry says. In a burst of lightning Barry leaves, then he comes back a second later with a pen. He writes "To Mateo Villanueva, From the Flash" as fast as you'd expect a speedster to. Barry moves the poster out of Mateo's face and sends him a smile. 

"All done kiddo." Jane takes the poster out of Mateo's hands. 

"Mom!" 

"I'm just gonna put it away," Jane says, "you don't want to hold it the whole time he's here, do you?" 

"Thanks mom," he says. Then Jane points excitedly to the poster as she takes it back to Mateo's room, just for Petra to see. Petra smiles widely too. She's never seen the kids this excited about something before. Well, except for Anna. 

“Why are you here?” Anna doesn't do unbridled enthusiasm. Anna has always been perceptive. She’s only five, but she knows that superheroes don’t just make house calls. She thinks there has to be a catch. 

“I’m friends with your moms,” he says, winking.

“Our moms?” Ellie asks, her little face scrunching up in confusion, “why?”

“Your moms are really cool ladies. You should listen to them.”

“If only,” Jane laments, coming back into the room. 

“Did you hear that, Mateo. The Flash wants you to listen to us,” Petra says. Mateo looks sheepish.

“I do,” he says, “most of the time.” Jane laughs at that.

“Sure baby,” she says. Petra just rolls her eyes. None of their children have listened to either of them in young lives. She doesn’t expect them to now because the Flash told them to. Barry looks towards the door.

“Is it cool if I-”

“Of course Bar- Flash. Of course Flash,” Jane says.

“Do you have to go?” Ellie asks.

“Well, if I’m here, who’s protecting Central City?”

“Kid Flash,” Mateo says.

“Jesse Quick!” Ellie adds.

“Vibe,” Anna says.

“Wow,” Barry says, “we have a lot of superheroes, don’t we?”

“You do,” Petra says. It’s hard to try to keep up with all of the superheros nowadays, especially since Central City and Star City are both filled to the brim with them.

“Makes a guy feel sort of superfluous,” Barry says.

“Well you’re never superfluous here,” Jane says in that sincere Jane tone of hers. She’s definitely decided that the Flash is something special. Maybe now she’ll get over that silly crush on Vibe.

“Thank you Jane,” Barry says, “and thank you Petra, for bringing me here.”

“You’re thanking me?” Petra asks. She had held his promise over his head. She didn’t think she was going to get a thank you.

“Really?” Jane adds.

“Yeah,” Barry says, “it was nice meeting your kids. They’re really sweet. Gives me something to look forward to.” Petra doesn’t get sentimental often, especially about people she doesn’t know well. There’s just something so sweet about knowing that this man enjoyed seeing her children so much. She thinks he'll make a good dad. 

Petra doesn’t let any of this show on her face or verbalize any of it. Jane, however, does. Her little face scrunches up the way that it always does when she’s touched.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet.” She smiles even wider, then gestures with both arms for Barry to come in for a hug.

“Get back in here, both of you.” Oh, apparently Petra was included in that “come hug me” gesture. It’s a group hug. Barry comes in for the hug, and Jane glares when Petra still hasn’t. Petra rolls her eyes, but she comes in for the group hug.

“There, are you happy now?” Petra asks as they finally break the hug.

“Yes,” Jane says, and she has the smile to prove it.

“It was so nice seeing you,” Jane says.

“Wait, he’s leaving?” Mateo asks. Ellie and Anna both look distraught.

“He can’t leave yet,” Anna says.

“I’m sorry Anna, but I have to go. I can’t stay forever.” None of the kids seem pleased about that, but they don’t say anything about it.

“Does anyone else want a hug?” Barry asks. A second later he has three preschool to kindergarten age children hanging off his legs. He bends down and hugs them properly, and then stands back up.

“Make sure to tell your dad you met me,” Barry says, sending the kids one last enormous grin. Then he zips out of the room. Oh yes, Petra _definitely_ likes this guy.

“Wow,” Mateo says again.

“Wasn’t that cool?” Jane asks. A moment later, Mateo and Ellie are talking over each other, trying to recount their favorite part. Anna is a bit more quiet, more contemplative about things, but Petra’s sure that she had fun too.

Petra wasn’t sure that she liked this arrangement to begin with, but she thinks that she’s alright with Jane’s newfound friendship with the Flash and his wife now. Anything that can make her kids this happy can’t be bad. Especially if it puts them in the lead in the cool parent race.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. please comment this fic is kind of life consuming. i love writing it but i need some feedback to make the words go  
> 2\. i promise that more jtv characters will show up in this fic. i love the rest of the jtv gang far too much not to include them, there's just a lot of setting up to do.


	3. Everything is Always Happening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of things happen and Iris is ready for all of them but one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. here come the jtv characters!!!!  
> 2\. i decided that as someone who speaks VERY little spanish, it would be better stylistically to just go with the english translation of what abuela says in jane's pov and then have iris catch a few of the words when she's speaking in iris's pov because iris only knows a little spanish too  
> 3\. my knowledge of sonograms comes from television friends. i did a little research but i'm gonna be honest that i modeled this scene after the one in parks and rec  
> 4\. dr. edwards is an oc modeled partly on one of my own doctors that i love to death

Through the years, some of Jane Gloriana Villanueva’s family traditions have changed. For example, sometimes they spend holidays at the Marbella now. They don’t always get to simply marathon telenovelas for Mother’s Day. One thing that has never changed, though, is Sunday lunches at her abuela’s after mass. Which family members are able to attend vary, but the atmosphere of warm, easy love never does.

Today, Jane, Petra, all three kids, Rafael and Jane’s mom have all been able to come over. Jane’s dad is working on a project this Sunday, but he’ll be back in town by next Saturday for Mateo’s birthday party.

“Did anything interesting happen this week?” Rafael asks. He normally has the kids two or three days a week, but because he had to go on a business trip this week Jane and Petra had the kids the entire week.

“We met the Flash,” Anna says nonchalantly.

“Of course you did,” Rafael says in that _yes of course that sound was Santa Claus, sweetie_ voice. Jane just grins, and she sees Petra do the same beside her.

“He was so cool, daddy,” Mateo says, “he signed my poster!”

“And how did you meet the Flash?” Rafael asks indulgently.

“He came over to mommies’ house,” Ellie adds.

“He did? Why would he come see your moms?” Rafael asks. He sounds a little less charmed now.

“They’re friends,” Mateo says, like this explains everything.

“You two are grinning,” Rafael says, “why are you grinning?” Her mother smiles like she’s just been given the hottest piece of gossip ever.

“You do know the Flash, don’t you?”

“We do,” Petra says smugly.

“You two actually know the Flash?”

“Yup,” Jane says, “he’s a nice guy too. Brought me a slushie one time.” She might be implying that she’s met Barry more than she has, but Jane thinks that’s alright. Once you help a man have a baby you’re good friends, no matter how long you’ve known each other.

“You just expect me to believe that?” Rafael is a good dad and generally a good coparent and friend. He does not, however, wear failure well. He doesn’t like being bested, and the idea that Jane and Petra not only know the most famous superhero on earth, but are friends with him and got him to the meet the kids? That reeks of failure to him.

Rafael can pull a lot of strings with his money. He can take the kids on expensive vacations that the Villanuevas can never dream of affording, help them meet celebrities, pay for their future college tuition anywhere that they can get in, but he doesn’t know superheroes. Jane and Petra do. This is the one area that they’ve ever been able to one up him on.

“How did you even meet the Flash?” Abuela crosses her arms.

 _Yes, how do you know The Flash?_ She asks. Her abuela knows what The Flash does, and that most of it is dangerous. Jane can tell that she’s jumped to certain conclusions about how they met.

“It wasn’t anything dangerous,” Jane says, “but I can’t exactly tell you.” This is Barry’s secret. She can’t share it with anyone.

“You can’t tell us?” her mom says. She sounds disappointed.

“That’s a matter of national security, ma’am” Jane says, doing her best fake FBI agent voice.

“The Flash isn’t affiliated with the US government,” Rafael says confidently. Then he frowns.

“He’s not, right?”

“The Flash’s secret isn’t mine to tell,” Jane says firmly. Her mother turns to Petra.

“Do you want to be my favorite daughter-in-law?”

“I’m your only daughter-in-law,” Petra says evenly.

“Will you just tell us,” Rafael asks.

“What do you think?” Petra replies. Rafael sighs.

“Can you at least tell us how you met him?” her mother asks.

“I don’t think I can,” Jane says. She doesn’t want to lie to them, but she thinks that the whole story would be too difficult to explain.

“Well, alright then,” Rafael says, “Does anyone else have any worries about this?” No one speaks.

“Really?” Rafael asks, sending her mother a look to match. Her mom shrugs.

“What? The dude’s a superhero, and he’s kinda hot.”

“He’s like thirty, ma.” Her mother sends her a devious smile.

“Never stopped me before.” Jane feels a disgusted look pass across her face. She’s about to shout MA, but Petra beats her to it.

“And married,” Petra adds, in that final tone of hers. Her mother grimaces.

“All the best men are,” she says. Rafael, a man who is not married, grimaces right back. Jane realizes that her abuela hasn’t made a comment on this. She’s a little bit concerned. Her abuela has an opinion on anything, just like all the rest of the Villanueva women.

“Abuela?” Jane asks, “you haven’t said anything.”

 _I approve_ , her abuela says, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“You approve?” Jane doesn’t think that she could have heard her right. Wasn’t there supposed to be a no in there somewhere? Maybe a nunca?

 _If he does not put you in danger, why wouldn’t I?_ Jane sends her abuela a confused look.

The Flash is a good friend to have. With the situations you get yourself into, you could use a friend with superpowers.

“I don’t get into that much trouble,” Jane says. All eyes in the room turn to her. _Really Jane?_

“Alright,” Jane admits, as a montage of every single dangerous situation she’s ever been in flies through her mind, “maybe that is a perk.” Her whole family ends up in situations where it could help to have a friend with superpowers. Then Ellie starts talking about this cool new move that she learned at gymnastics this week, and everything goes back to normal. At least, as close to normal as anything ever gets for their family.

 

“Iris hasn’t called,” Jane says, checking her phone for the third time today. There aren’t any texts either. 

“Did you want her to?” Petra asks gently.

“Yes,” Jane admits, “do you think we scared them away when you made Barry come over and meet the kids?”

“Barry seemed to enjoy it,” Petra says.

“I don’t want them to think I only want to be friends because Barry’s the Flash.” Jane sighs. She thinks that they’ve made a mess of this. She doesn’t want this to be where their friendship ends. She likes both of them, and she wants to get to know them.

“Mateo’s birthday is in a week,” Petra says, “just invite them to the party.” Jane sends her a confused look. Inviting the Flash to Mateo’s birthday party would just exacerbate the issue. Plus, it would be a real jerk move.

“As Barry and Iris, Jane,” Petra says.

“Oh,” Jane says, as understanding dawns on her, “Petra, that’s a great idea!” Then Jane remembers something. She doesn’t have friends friends except for Lina and Michael.

“How will we explain them to everyone else?”

“They’re friends from your writing club,” Petra says, “problem solved.”

“Do you think that they’ll buy that? That I’m bringing real friends from “writing club” right after we talked about being friends with the Flash?”

“If we’re going to be friends with these people long term, then the rest of the family will find out eventually.”

“We can just try really, really hard so they won’t?” Jane says. She knows that it’s futile, though. Secrets spread through this family like illness does through a daycare. Especially since Jane hates lying.

“Alright,” Jane says, “I guess we’ll just have to deal with that when it happens.” She likes these people, both of them. She doesn’t want to give up on being their friend because it’s going to be complicated. Jane dials Iris’s number, and hopes that she picks up. She does,

“Iris!”

“Hi Jane,” Iris says, and she sounds happy to hear from her, “how are you?”

“I’m really good actually,” Jane says, “we just got done with family dinner. Petra and I were wondering if you’d like to come over for Mateo’s birthday party this Saturday?”

“This Saturday?” Iris asks. It sounds like there could be a conflict. Jane crosses her fingers.

“Yes.”

“What time is it?”

“We were getting together for lunch at noon, then we were going to do presents and cake.”

“Oh cool, we can come,” Iris says. Internally, Jane is just screaming yes! That isn’t something that she should say out loud, though.

Instead she asks, “What else is happening on Saturday?” That’s a perfectly normal question that friends ask other friends. It’s not prying, right?

“My little brother’s graduating from college on Sunday. We’re having a party for him Saturday evening, but my dad’s organizing. Maybe coming to yours will get Barry and I out of some work.”

“What’s his degree in?” Jane asks.

“Mechanical engineering

“Wow,” Jane says.

“Yeah, Wally’s crazy smart.” Jane can just hear the affection for her brother in her voice.

“Does Mateo like remote controlled cars?”

“You don’t have to get him a present,” Jane says. Mateo already gets more than she really wants him to.

“Of course we don’t have to,” Iris says, “but we want to.” Jane sighs.

“Fine,” Jane says, in that tone she uses when she’s given up but things aren’t fine at all.

“Thanks, Jane! We’ll see you at noon Saturday!” Then Iris hangs up, and Jane’s left holding the phone.

“This is a good idea, right?” Jane asks.

“Well, I wouldn’t have subjected them to full Villanueva the first time we had them over,” Petra tells her.

“Our family’s not that bad,” Jane says. Petra sends her a look. Jane can feel her eyes widen in horror.

“Oh my god,” Jane says, “they’re gonna hate us.”

 

 

Iris knew that her dad was going to ask her and Barry to come over and help set up for Wally’s party. He did not, however, ask in advance. It gets kind of annoying not being able to just schedule these things sometimes, and Iris is kind of sick of it. Maybe having both of them be unavailable because he hadn’t asked in advance will teach her dad a lesson about scheduling.

Iris’s phone rings. She picks it up.

“Baby girl, can you and Barry come over?”

“Sorry dad,” Iris says, not feeling sorry at all, “Barry and I have plans right now.”

“I need help setting this up,” says her father, who obviously banked on having both Iris and Barry help with setting up Wally’s party.

“Call Jesse,” Iris suggests, “she and Wally will have it all set up in a minute.” Her dad has a large pool of support that he can draw from. He’s not going to die trying to get this thing ready without them.

“Half of this stuff goes outside, Iris. We can’t just have them superspeed it up.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it figured out,” Iris says.

“Iris-”

“Barry and I have plans, dad” Iris says. Barry comes up behind her, and grins.

“And what are those, exactly?” her father asks, “you know that your brother’s party starts at three, right?”

“Yes, dad, I promise we’ll be there. We just have another party first.”

“Fine,” her dad says, “Cecile and I’ll work it out. Wally’s already here, and I’m sure we can get Jesse and Harry to come over. Maybe Cisco and Caitlin are free too.”

“Thanks dad,” Iris says, “love you.”

“If you two are late I’m gonna be pissed,” he says, in lieu of saying “I love you” back.

“We won’t, I promise. Bye dad.” Then Iris hangs up the phone. That went better than she actually expected. She would take longer to savor it if they weren’t already running late for a party in Miami.

“You’re so sexy when you get us out of work,” Barry says. Normally, Iris would make a quip about always being sexy, but they’re running late for the party. She wants to make sure that they actually get there.

“You’ve got the present, right?” Iris asks. Barry whushes out of the room, and comes back with the wrapped package.

“Ready to go?” Barry asks. Iris nods, and a moment later she’s in Barry’s arms and the world around her has blurred.

They wait for a few seconds before ringing the doorbell to try to regain their bearings. Jane answers the door so quickly you’d think that she was a speedster. Jane engulfs them both in a big hug. Then she pulls them inside.

“You brought a present,” she says, not looking pleased about that in the least.

“Can we just set it on that table?” Iris asks. There’s a whole table full of presents right by the door.

“Sure,” Jane says, “go ahead.”

“Who’s this?” an older woman in heavy makeup and a tight shirt says.

“These are the friends I was telling you guys about,” Jane says, gesturing to them, “Barry and Iris.”

“You don’t invite friends to birthday parties.”

“Then what are Michael and I, chopped liver?” a girl about Jane’s age and height asks. The tall white guy beside her looks a little insulted. He must be Michael. 

“No,” the older woman says, “you’re family.” The girl beams.

“Well, when you put it like that.”

“Please stop, ma,” Jane tells the woman that must be her mother, “you’re gonna scare them off.”

“Don’t worry, you can’t scare us off,” Barry says, with one of his signature smiles, “we’re here to stay.” Jane actually looks relieved by that, like that was a legitimate fear of hers.

“Uh huh,” Jane’s mom says, sounding totally unconvinced. A latino man peaks around the corner, wearing the biggest smile Iris has ever seen. He looks so familiar.

“Jane! These are your new friends?” As soon as she hears his voice, Iris realizes where she knows him from.

“Yes dad,” Jane says. Iris is so engulfed in her realization that she doesn’t even notice the dad part.

“You’re the telenovela guy!” Iris says.

“The telenovela guy?” Rogelio asks, sending Jane a concerned look. Jane shrugs.

“He’s in all the telenovelas Cisco and I’ve been watching,” Iris explains. She’s been trying to learn Spanish recently, with mixed results. She and Cisco have been watching his favorite telenovelas together to try to help with her comprehension. She doesn’t know if it’s really helping that much, considering that she’s still at such a low level, but it’s sure been fun. She likes hanging out with Cisco.

“Yes,” he says, “I am in _all_ the best telenovelas. Your friend has good taste.”

“Wait,” Barry says, sending Jane a confused look, “your father is a telenovela star?” 

“Jane gets her good looks from me.”

“Rogelio,” Jane’s mother growls.

“And Xiomara, of course. She gets her good looks from both of us.”

“You’re on thin ice, Rogelio,” Xiomara says, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

“Are things always like this?” Iris asks cautiously.

“This is a normal day in the Villanueva household,” Jane says. Another woman comes out of the kitchen. She’s in heavy makeup as well, but a little younger. It looks like she’s checking Iris out.

“Who are you?” the woman asks, and Iris can hear the flirting dripping from her tone.

“Married, Luisa,” Petra says. Barry takes her hand, very obviously staking a claim. Iris would roll her eyes, but she does find it cute when Barry gets jealous. 

“Hi, I’m the husband." 

“Why is every cute woman I meet married,” Luisa laments.

“You’ll find the right woman someday,” Jane assures her.

“Yeah, maybe when I stop falling for my psycho ex in a wig,” Luisa mutters. Iris decides that she doesn't want to touch whatever that is with a ten foot pole. A frustrated looking elderly woman comes out. She starts speaking Spanish, and she sounds frustrated. Iris feels guilty that she only understands the words lunch and hurry up.

Barry’s stomach growls, as if agreeing. Jane, thankfully, can tell that while Iris understood a minimal amount of what the woman just said. Barry understood none of it.

“Come on guys,” she says, “abuela says lunch is ready.” Barry looks relieved, and Iris honestly can’t tell if he’s just relieved by the food or that she knows what Jane’s abuela said now. Iris and Barry follow Jane into the kitchen. There’s a pot of macaroni and cheese on the stove, a plate full of fruit, a veggie dish, and a little thing of bacon bits that people can sprinkle in their mac and cheese.

“Mac and cheese is Mateo’s favorite food,” Jane explains. Barry grins widely.

“It’s mine too,” Barry says. Iris sighs, half wishing that he hadn’t said that. Iris would prefer not to admit exactly how often she and Barry just have mac and cheese. It’s been both of their favorite comfort food since they were kids. Iris grabs a plate and gets some macaroni and cheese and some fruit.

The table is long and made of a dark wood. There are six chairs lining each side, and then one on each end. Jane sits down at one that’s three from the end, and Barry sits down next to her, leaving one spot at the end of the table for Iris. Petra walks through the door, and sits down beside Iris.

Iris is surprised that Petra sits down beside her instead of Jane, but she’s not complaining. She doesn’t know the rest of the of these people yet and she’s fairly sure that Jane’s mother doesn’t like her.

“Have you two had any updates on the baby?” Petra asks casually. More of the adults come through the doors, filling up most of the rest of the seats at the table.

“We’re going in for our first sonogram this Monday,” Iris says. Mateo sits at the other end of the table, a sister at each of his sides.

“Sonogram?” Rogelio asks, his eyes sparkling, “are you two expecting?”

“Yes,” Iris says, sending Barry a smile, “we are.” Then she sends one to Jane, who’s wearing the biggest smile of all.

“Ah, sonograms,” an attractive man with black hair says, “doesn’t that bring back memories?”

“Yes,” Petra says, “unpleasant ones. You know, pregnancy isn’t the best part of having a baby, Rafael.” Rafael shrugs.

“She’s right,” Jane says, “you got three kids without having to push any of them out of your body.” Rafael looks ready to retort, but thankfully, someone changes the topic.

“Has Jane started suggesting mommy classes yet?” Jane’s female friend asks.

“Uh, no?” Iris says.

“Don’t worry, she will.”

“Jane dragged me to a million mommy classes,” Petra says, “most of them were just about “having fun” talking to other moms.”

“Those were good for the kids, guys,” Jane protests

“Sure they were,” the friend says.

“Lina,” Jane warns. Lina raises her eyebrows, and takes a sip of water, disagreeing without needing to say anything.

“Speaking of,” Jane say, “are you two signed up for a Lamaze Class yet?”

“No, we aren’t,” Iris says, sending Barry a concerned look, “should we be?”

“Well,” Jane says, “Petra and I both took them. They really helped.”

“They helped _you_ , Jane. Giving birth the natural way,” Petra says, accenting this term with an eye roll, “was awful for me.”

“Iris isn’t having twins,” Jane says.

“She might be,” Petra says.

“Oh no,” Iris says, “no twins.” They haven’t had their first sonogram yet, but there’s no way. 

“See, so Lamaze Classes might be perfect!” Jane exclaims.

“Have you guys talked about that yet? What about whether or not you’re breastfeeding? Do you know how you’re going to set up your nursery.”

“No to all of those questions, actually. I guess we have some things to talk about,” Iris says, feeling like motherhood is an important exam she's going to take without studying for at all. 

“Yeah,” Barry says, “but we have some time.” _Please, get us off this conversation_ , his tone begs.

“You know, we’re not actually Facebook friends yet,” Iris says. Jane’s eyes widen.

“We _aren't_ ,” Jane says, “Barry, pass me your phone.” Barry dutifully passes her his phone. Petra rolls her eyes.

“Iris, pass me yours.” Iris passes Petra her phone. Then Petra passes Jane Iris’s phone. Then Jane passes Petra Barry’s phone. Then they pass them both to their respective owners.

Jane accepts the friend requests. She gives both pages a quick glance. Jane has 376 friends. Petra has 62. She suddenly feels like Petra likes them a lot more than she’s let on so far. Iris puts her phone back into her purse, and finishes the last bite of macaroni and cheese on her plate.

“Are you ready to open presents, Mateo?” Jane asks, sending him a big mom grin.

“No,” Mateo says, “we can’t open now!”

“But you always want to open presents,” Petra says, sounding confused.

“We have to have cake first,” Mateo says, like it’s obvious, “I can’t wish for presents if we don’t have cake first.” Iris giggles. There’s a million and one reasons that doesn’t actually work, but to a seven year old it seems like the most logical thing in the world.

“Alright,” Rafael says, and Iris can just tell that he’s the parent that spoils these kids rotten, “then we’ll have cake.”

They take their dishes over by the dishwasher, and then sing cumpleaños feliz to Mateo. Iris can’t sing, and doesn’t bother trying. Barry knows exactly five words in Spanish, and doesn't try either. Even though her husband is a fantastic singer, not having him sing on this one didn’t detract from the quality. The Villanueva family and friends must have some real musical talent. There were actual harmonies going on in that rendition of the song.

Mateo blows out his candles, and then they eat cake. Jane’s grandmother makes a comment that sounds self-deprecating about the cake, and Jane and her mother both roll their eyes.

“Ma, it’s as fantastic as always,” Xiomara says, “Rafael’s not the only one spoiling the kids rotten.” Both father and great-grandmother look insulted.

“Hey,” Rafael says, “I don’t spoil the kids. I just give them nice things.”

“Spoiled,” Xiomara sings. Which, wow, that woman has an amazing voice. If Iris tried to just sing in casual conversation it would sound like a dying cat. The conversation flies back and forth amicably as they finish up their cake. Mateo finishes his quickly, and tries to wait patiently for the rest of the people at the party to finish.

It takes exactly two minutes for his patience to wear out.

“Ma, can we go open presents?”

“Yeah ma,” one of the twins asks, “I wanna see what he got.”

“Fine,” Jane says, “the rest of us can bring our cake into the living room.”

“Are you sure about that?” Petra asks.

“The kids are all done,” Jane says, “it’ll be fine.” Iris catches exactly none of the words that her abuela says next, but she can hear the general sentiment. Jane's abuela doesn’t believe it will be fine at all. She is, however, walking towards the living room. The kids are sprinting towards the living room. Jane and Petra are both heading that way.

Michael looks longingly at his almost complete piece of cake. Then, he decides to leave it. Iris thinks that’s wise. She takes the last, large bite into her mouth and then follows the group into the living room. She and Barry sit down together on one of the two loveseats.

Jane and Petra have a lot of furniture in their living room, which isn’t surprising. They have a lot of friends and family that they presumably have over a lot. They do a lot of living in this room.

Mateo goes through half the table of presents, opening toys of every shape and size. Eventually, he gets to the one that Barry carried from Central City.

“Who’s that one from?” Xiomara asks.

“Iris and I,” Barry says. Mateo rips off the paper. Inside is their custom-made, remote control car.

“This is so cool!” Mateo says. He takes it out of the box that they wrapped it up in, and takes out the controller. He messed with the controller, and the helicopter parts come out of it’s little hood. Rafael laughs.

“I don’t think I’m the _only_ one spoiling the kids.”

“Where did you two get that?” Jane asks. Her eyes are wide with surprise.

“My brother and our friend Cisco built it,” Iris says.

“How?” Jane asks, her eyes widening.

“I have no idea,” Iris admits, “Barr, do you know? He knows more about this than I do.”

“No idea,” Barry says.

“I’m still really impressed,” Jane says.

“You got our son a spy car,” Petra says. If Iris isn’t mistaken, there’s a small smile on her face.

“You know, this gives me an idea for a new telenovela,” Rogelio says with a flourish, “I will play the ravishing Mexican superspy agente cero cero siete.”

“That’s just James Bond, dad. You'll get charged with plagiarism again.”

“No, Jane, this will be nothing like that James Bond. Mine will be better.” Jane rolls her eyes, but doesn't comment on her father’s eccentric ideas. Mateo retracts the helicopter parts from his car, and discovers the boat setting. His sisters are looking increasingly jealous.

“I want a turn,” one of the girls says.

“It’s Mateo’s birthday, Ellie,” Jane says, “he gets to play with it first.”

“Tomorrow, though,” Petra says, “it’s fair game.” Ellie’s face lights up. Then. Iris realizes that she hasn’t checked her phone for a long time. She takes it out, and checks the clock.

“Shi-SHOOT,” Iris says, remembering the children in the room, “Barr, we’re running late for Wally’s graduation party.” It’s already 3:15 and the party starts at three. They’re still in Miami.

“I’m sorry, Jane, we have to go.”

“Graduation party, right?” Jane asks. Iris nods.

“Who’s graduating?” Xiomara asks.

“My brother.”

“Where’s he graduating from?” Rafael asks.

“The University of Florida,” Iris says, hoping that the school makes sense for Miami. Rafael sends her a skeptical look.

“The University of Florida is in _Gainsville_ ,” Rafael says.

“That’s five hours away,” Xiomara adds, obviously unimpressed with the lie.

“We’re not trying to make it to his party tonight,” Iris says, “we just wanna get on the road so we get there for graduation tomorrow morning.” No one seems impressed by that explanation.

“Sorry,” Barry says, “we gotta go. We’ll see you guys later?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jane says, with much too much enthusiasm, “see you at writing club!” Iris and Barry both walk out the door at a normal speed, and then Barry scoops her up and runs from Miami to Central City. Being friends with people who don’t live in Central City is hard.

 

  
They get there by 3:30, but Iris still feels bad. Wally assures them that it’s alright, as long as they don’t run on “Barry time” to the actual ceremony tomorrow.

“Where even were you two?” her father asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Miami?” Iris says. Her dad’s eyes widen.

“You were in _Miami_? Why were you in Miami right before your brother’s party?”

“Our friend’s son was having a birthday party,” Iris says.

“Was that the one that helped with your… issues?”

“Yeah, dad, she was.” Her dad sighs.

“Alright,” he says, “just, be more careful about when you decide to take trips like that again. You aren’t going to Miami again tomorrow, are you?”

“Oh god no,” Barry says, and he still sounds a little out of breath. The trip _to_ Miami never tires him out too much, but he’s always pretty tired by the time they get back.

“We won’t be late for Wally’s graduation,” Iris says, “I promise.”

“Good. I don’t think we can take any more disruptions than we’re already gonna get tomorrow.”

“Disruptions?” Barry asks cautiously.

“Wally invited that Jax kid to the party and the ceremony. The kid came and brought all his time traveling friends with him.” Barry starts laughing, and Iris does too. She can’t believe that Mick Rory is at her little brother’s graduation party right now.

“We’ve gotta see this,” Barry says, and Iris takes his hand as they go deeper into the party.

“It’s not supposed to be funny, kids!” her dad shouts at them, but they’re too busy being entertained to notice.

 

The next day, Wally walks across the stage, and officially gets his masters in mechanical engineering. Mick Rory shoots his heat gun into the air in celebration.

Somehow, everyone around them is unfazed. Maybe they thought that it was an air horn or a silly string can. Maybe they’re just people from Central City Missouri, and are completely unfazed by supervillians and fireworks and have decided to stop caring about any of it at all.

Jax and Stein cheer loudly. Amaya Jiwe glares, and Ray Palmer laughs. Sara Lance holds her head in her lap. This seems in character for all of them. Wally either doesn’t notice the ruckus coming from the Legends or decides to ignore it, and smiles all the way across the stage.

After the ceremony ends, they go out to dinner, just the family and Jesse. She’s been Wally’s plus one ever since she moved to Earth One, and Iris and her dad have been speculating about when a proposal’s going to come. They definitely don’t bring this up at dinner, though.

Their dad foots the bill, and offers to buy drinks for everyone. Barry, poor unintoxicatable thing that he is, doesn’t take him up on it. Iris, poor pregnant thing that she is, doesn't either. Wally and Jesse are unintoxicatable too, but they’re still trying to fight it. Jesse turned twenty one in February, so Iris knows that she’s legal now. It’s still sort of weird to see her drinking and not worry about Harry raining hell fire on all of them, though.

They have a great time talking, just the six of them. It’s nice to have some time for family bonding in a smaller group. Iris loves the rest of Team Flash, of course, but sometimes the whole group of them can be a little overwhelming. It’s nice to have some time without every single person on the Team around.

Wally talks them into getting ice cream too before going their separate ways. It’s a really nice day, and Iris is happy that Wally had a great graduation. He deserves to have a good time and be the center of attention sometimes, even if it can go to his head.

 

The next morning, Iris wakes up to her alarm at 7:30. It normally goes off at seven. What happened? Why did she change it? Oh right, the sonogram. It’s at nine, and both she and Barry took the morning off work to go in for it. Barry’s still fast asleep, and Iris decides to let him sleep while she showers and does her hair. She comes out of the bathroom at 8:30, hair and makeup done, and expects to see Barry getting ready. He’s not. Somehow, her husband is still asleep.

“Babe,” she says, shaking him gently, “babe. You gotta wake up.” His eyes open. Then he’s out of bed in a flash of light, and a moment later he’s standing right beside her, all dressed for the day.

“It took me an hour and a half to get get ready,” Iris says, crossing her arms.

“You know, because it didn't take me an hour to get ready, we still have time to get Jitters if you want.” Iris knows that if they go to Jitters, they won’t be driving her car like she’d planned this morning. She wants coffee and a pastry, though, so she takes Barry’s hand and lets him run them across town.

They order a pair of Flashes, a chocolate Éclair for Barry and a blueberry muffin for Iris. One of the great things about being married is that they never have disputes about who’s paying anymore. It’s _their_ money. They’re always both paying.

“I can’t believe I’m actually getting a sonogram today,” Iris says. She knows that it’s been almost four months now, but she’s only starting to show. They haven’t even started really thinking about the future, as Jane definitely figured out.

“It’s crazy, right?” Barry says, “just a few months ago, we weren’t sure that this could happen.”

“We’re actually going to see this baby,” she says. Iris takes a sip of her coffee, then remembers something. Isn’t there something about drinking coffee during pregnancy being bad for the baby? Iris takes one last swig, and then sets it down for good. She needs to find out for sure on that one. On a lot of ones, actually.

Iris tries to stop stressing about it. Instead she sends Jane a text about her sonogram because she’s sure that the other woman would like to know.

“Good luck!!! Heart emoji smiley face emoji confetti emoji heart emoji” Iris smiles. She appreciates having Jane in her corner. Then she looks at her phone clock. It says 8:55.

“We need to go,” Iris says. Barry takes the last sip of his coffee, and then they walk out the door. They go to the alley behind Jitters, and then they’re off to the clinic. They still manage to get there before nine. They're able to sit down in the waiting room for a full two minutes before someone comes to get them for their appointment. 

“Iris West-Allen?” a woman in scrubs with a little clipboard asks. Iris and Barry stand up, and they follow her back into the office, through the labyrinthine corridors. Iris is kind of worried about finding her way back. It was so confusing getting to the room.

“The doctor will be with you shortly,” she says, closing the door on them. The two of them sit down on the little plastic chairs right beside the door. The office looks sterile and clinical. This is almost enhanced by the bland decor. Each wall has a single, artistic photo of a tropical destination, and the wallpaper has palm trees on it. It's really generic and a little tacky. Apparently, dissecting the room isn't enough to alleviate Iris's worries. 

“Do you think that we’re ready for this?” Iris asks, sending Barry a frantic look.

“We’re ready for whatever this baby can throw at us,” Barry assures her.

“I don't know anything about being pregnant,” Iris says.

“My mom wasn't around, and my stepmom adopted and none of my friends here in Central City have ever been pregnant. I just feel really under prepared for this.” It sounds like Jane had everything worked out, and her pregnancy was the result of accidental artificial insemination. She wanted this baby, desperately, and feels like she's not preparing enough for it. Barry takes her hand, and tries to steady her.

“You _do_ have friends that have been pregnant. Jane basically offered to be your pregnancy guru,” Barry says with a little grin, “we’ll get it figured out, I promise. What can this pregnancy throw at as that we can't handle together?” They turn around as they hear a knock on the door. The doctor peaks her head through the door, wearing a white coat with a stethoscope wrapped around her neck. She has curly white hair, wrinkled white skin, and a pleasant old woman’s smile.

“Are you the West-Allens?” she asks cheerfully.

“That’s us,” Iris says, trying to sound as perky as the other woman. She doesn’t want to let her nerves show.

“I’m Dr. Edwards,” the woman says, holding out a hand for Iris to shake, “I’ll be taking care of you this morning.”

“Nice to meet you,” Barry says.

“Why don’t you just take a seat,” Dr. Edwards says, “we’ll get everything set up for you.” Iris takes a seat in the large, leather chair, and tries not to freak out as the doctor explains the process and exactly what’s going to happen. She lathers something on Iris’s stomach. Then, she sets the sonogram tool down on Iris’s stomach, trying to find the perfect spot for the picture. She takes Barry's hand, and holds it like a lifeline. 

“Let’s just take a looksie,” Dr. Edwards says. Iris directs her attention to the sonogram screen beside her. The screen lights up. Iris can tell that there’s a baby in those lights somewhere, but she doesn’t really know what it’s supposed to look like. Dr. Edwards looks at the screen. Then, her face bursts into a smile that’s somehow bigger than before.

“What is it?” Iris asks cautiously.

“Looks like you have a healthy pair of twins,” Dr. Edwards says.

“Twins?” Iris squeaks, squeezing Barry’s hand.

“Yes,” the doctor says, in all of her perky glory, “twins!” Iris thinks that she’s going to have a heart attack. Earlier today, she felt like she hadn’t properly prepared for one baby. Now she has two to let down? She doesn’t know how to handle this. She just doesn’t know what to do. 

“It’s alright, Iris,” Barry promises her, keeping a hold of her hand, “we can handle this.” For the first time in her life, Iris isn’t sure that she can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here come the tornado twins!!!!! for the record, though, i am NOT naming them don and dawn

**Author's Note:**

> please leave me comments friends. i worked hard on this one and i've got more chapters i'm gonna write so i'm gonna keep working hard on it. there probably aren't a lot of kudos coming from a concept like this so if any of y'all who do like it could tell me i'd really appreciate it


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